Respecting the Long Arm of Utilities Law

Utilities companies generally want their money - I get that.  Last month we got a series of escalating bills + a 'final notice' for our water in Chicago (bills sat in mail forwarding a few weeks too many)......

...but alas, Chicago is patient & water was not turned off before we paid.

Here, you read your own meters, manually calculate the cost, take your form to a bank or post office & pay the bill.

Then every month various meter ladies (gas, electricity) come by to verify these self-reported figures.  When we first arrived, I had no idea what they were saying - but was reassured by their grandmotherly appearance & let them in.  

Today, right after the gas meter lady left, the electricity lady rang.  However, this time she did not show up on foot like normal.....

She had a LOT to say - and while I only understood about 50%, the key message was clear:

Turns out, our self-calculated payment last month was off by a decimal

(this was the first computer generated form I'd seen for utilities - so I knew it was serious!)

She grimly reported they would turn off the electricity.  When I asked "when?".  She responded "right now."  When I asked for how long, she reported "2-3 business days after payment is received, it will come back"...

Looking totally shell shocked & helpless (no fridge, no lights or way to charge our iPads ~ FRIGHTENING), I continued to babble and ask questions in my 'Tarzan Russian'.

After about 10 minutes, she started to soften to my plight - and suggested if I promised to go pay today, called her right after I paid and gave her a small 'tarrif', she could hold off the dogs for a bit....

Yes - 100 hryvna later (~$12) I went for that option - rushed to the bank, then to the post, called my new BFF Olga and we are still plugged in!


And I was glad I did...on my drive down to the bank/post, I saw another house down the street who apparently did NOT choose the 'friends of Olga' option......

....I don't think they were doing repair

So here's to respecting your utilities professionals and paying your damn bills on time & accurately!

Thanksgiving & our American Best

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!!

Our second Thanksgiving in Ukraine & we see just how American we can roll....

Friends & Family

We hosted a potluck style feast for us & two other families.  

The kids painted ornaments (kit purchased here) and performed a circus... 

(as American capitalists, they charged admission!)

Over dinner we shared what we were thankful for: 

• Zoe - her parents, friends etc
• Xavier - himself
• Quincy - video games

All the fixins'

We can get turkey & potatoes anytime - sweet potatoes and fresh cranberries with enough searching and some luck....

And our American Embassy friends who joined us, have access to the Commissary - a legendary place that sells all kinds of goods imported from the States.  

They were able to bring - among other things - canned cranberry sauce (Zoe discovered her love) & real ice cream...

 (the stuff sold here doesn’t melt – a bit creepy)

Getting in the Christmas Spirit:

Since fresh trees aren’t sold here until the end of December (people put them up for New Years), we secured our first artificial tree last year.  Thus, we were able to deck the halls for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving

As much as we hated giving up a real tree, pulling a light wrapped tree up from the basement really was easy.

Xavier hung our magnet Santas

Zoe added some local flair

Black Friday

If you look really hard, you can find a holiday promotion or two here.  

In the quest for more, we felt it appropriate to check out a new mall that opened nearby - Ocean Plaza...

It was utter chaos to get to since the mall is open - but the parking lot is lagging behind!  Once inside, we found a nice place - with a cool fountain up front & a giant aquarium  

(with oddly very few fish!)

The food court has cool architecture...

....but not so fab food (the burger was deemed inedible by both Zoe & Xavier)

After walking 2 floors, the kids were tired & we went home empty-handed.

But thanks to the wonderful world wide web, we were able to participate in Black Friday anyhow – and even have a time zone advantage!

Here's to Thanksgiving - one of our absolute favorite holidays - with friends, food, festivity & shopping!

Hope you had a great one.

Fighting for America

Last fall, we were new in town for our school's annual International Night.  We did not realize the extent of national pride that would be displayed.  

As a result, we paled in shadows of many - especially the UK.....

(these 2 may look friendly - but they are fierce competition)

Inspired & now informed, we endeavored to bring team USA back to a position of dominance this year....

We tapped into mom's extensive 4th of July supplies.....

(THANKS Lady!!!!)

We recruited spirited representatives.....

(our good friend Clara gets in the spirit)

Prepared refreshments to showcase USA pride...

(3 cheers to Logan for hauling cake mix & frosting in his suitcase)

Luckily Bud entered Ukraine last year in time for the Euro Cup

Dressed the part.....

Yes - mom's 4th loot included Uncle Sam's butt pants!

After all that, team UK shows up with a cute kid in a kilt.... 

Team Ukraine brought a serious spread & a full on traditional stove....

How does one compete with that?!


So while we may not have been able to outshine others, we made a much more respectable showing & sure had fun...

(Xavier & his friend Wendelin duke it out with their flags)

Here's to friendly competition (if only all international conflicts could be solved with a cook off) & American pride!

Quelling USA jealousy

Logan has been in the States for over a week for meetings.  The fact that HE has access to fountain soda, Costco & Chipotle has been making me crazy jealous.  

While I can't honestly say I've succeeded in not being hostile, in attempt to minimize the envy, the kids & I brainstormed "things we can do here but NOT in the USA":


Speak Russian: Xavier identified this as a unique asset of living here.  Здравствуйте, хотели бы вы пиво?  While being surrounded by Cyrillic may not be your idea of a good time, it's a bit of a treat to talk about people without them knowing.


Go to Dreamtown: A giant water park on the 3rd floor of a mall.  YES - suspended 2 floors above solid ground!  

I suspect safety concerns prevents such places from existing at home - but the kids LOVE it.

Park on the sidewalk: OH so liberating!  

WAY easier to find a spot when you have all the sidewalks to include in the search.

Produce on every corner: Outside every Metro stop, inside the Metro, on any street corner, they are there.  Fruit & veg 'babushkas' are never very far making shopping a breeze. 

(Please don't point out it's all root veggies + apples.  This is all about celebrating what we have - NOT crying about how we miss fresh berries outside of July!)

Caffeine all the time: It seems any moment is a good moment for coffee or tea.  While I have been served a hot beverage at a salon before - never while waiting for someone else to get a haircut!

(what I was served while waiting for Xavier's haircut)

Free pets!:  That's a marketing spin on 'stray animals'.  We (mostly) love ours.....

Low price services: Thanks to our aforementioned free pet, we needed someone to clean our rug.  Star Dry Cleaner to the rescue.....they picked up, chemically treated & returned a now smell free rug - all for ~$30!  

Not a cat person, how about a handyman?  5 hours of fixing & drilling into our crazy thick concrete walls set us back ~$35.  The only risk with all this is how lazy we are becoming.


Grocery Store Rewards: I remember in the 70's when we licked stamps into booklets & exchanged them for bed sheets (brown & white with safari animals).  We get to experience that joy again today!!!!

Just turned in a booklet for 2 pans @ 1/2 off today!

So while I admit to some serious USA jealousy pangs, Crosby, Stills & Nash summed it up best....."If you can't have the one you love, love the one you are with"

Here's to focusing on the fabulous!

Western influence, but still Kiev random

With Logan out of town this past weekend, getting out of the house (and hopefully distracting the kids from bickering) was even more critical.  So we headed to the new interactive science & technology museum - Experiementanium.

Rumor has it, it was modeled after similar museums in the West....

The entrance held a very cool giant 2 sided peg board you could make impressions with...

(I tried not to think of the germs associated with opening their mouths in the process)

There was all kinds of physics being demonstrated 

And a giant bubble zone

(the floors were good & 'kid wipe out slippery')

And several optical illusions and puzzles on the walls 

(I still can't figure out how moving around these shapes nets an extra box, can you?)

Much more fancy & modern than any other museum we've been to here.  That said, it was still pretty clear you were in Kiev.  First, the decorative moms....

And the unusual exhibits - like a chair of nails...

(I'm happy to report it really doesn't hurt to sit on)

Finally, my favorite - the 'pretend your pregnant vest'!

I'm not sure why the Science museum needed to include cone boobs & a weighted belly - but it was that little touch of Kiev random that we quite enjoy

Here's to imitation & progress - but not so much that things get too vanilla along the way

Happy Monday!